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Children of Judas
Children of Judas 'Bloodline Bane: The Schadenfreude Curse' In addition to the Wanton bane suffered by all Daeva, Children of Judas are also fascinated by the despair that draws other Kindred and kine to self-destruction. A Child of Judas might not want to make another person’s emotional pain worse, but she can’t help wanting to draw it out into the open and savor it. Admittedly, some Suicide Kings do try to make grief and depression worse, but individual Children of Judas can choose how cruelly they satisfy their thirst for despair, just as the Kindred can choose how cruelly they satisfy their need for blood. When exposed to another person’s emotional pain, the Suicide King gains the Obsessed Condition for (10 - Humanity) hours. 'Bloodline Disciplines' Celerity, Despond, Majesty, Vigor 'Despond' '• Depression' It's hard to work up enthusiasm for anything when you're depressed. Things that might otherwise be impressive instead remind you of how worthless you are. : Cost: None : Dice Pool: None : Action: Instant : Duration: Scene The vampire exudes an aura of worthlessness and depression for the rest of the scene. Unlike with Awe or Dread Presence, people do not register him as the source or cause of this emotion. While exposed to this aura, victims can neither regain Willpower through Virtue, Vice, Mask, or Dirge, nor spend Willpower to bolster or enable an action. They may still use Willpower defensively. In addition, the vampire's dots in Despond are subtracted from any mundane Presence rolls made within the aura. A vampire can lash out against this aura with her predatory aura; if she succeeds, she isn't affected by Depression. '•• Self-Doubt' Focusing the power of Despond on a single target enhances the basic feelings of worthlessness instilled by Depression. The unfortunate target feels incapable of doing anything right, this lack of confidence impeding any social interaction. : Cost: None : Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Despond vs. target's Composure + Blood Potency : Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive. : Requirement: Must be affected by Depression : Duration: Concentration (Concentration is a reflexive action which requires line of sight.) : Dramatic Failure: The target becomes immune to the character's Despond until the next sunet. : Failure: The target feels nothing. : Success: Inflicts the Broken Condition on the target. If it escalates to combat, the victim begins with the Stunned Tilt. Target loses her next turn of action as she struggles against her sudden certainty of failure and personal worthlessness. : Exceptional Success: As above, but the victim also cannot spend Willpower for defense. '••• Dark Night of the Soul' : Cost: 1 Vitae : Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Despond vs. target's Composure + Blood Potency : Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive : Duration: Scene : Dramatic Failure: The target faces her inner demons but comes away with renewed confidence in her own strength and ability to carry on. She regains a spent Willpower point. : Failure: No effect. : Success: The target gains the Despondent Condition for one scene. : Exceptional Success: The target gains the Despondent Condition until the next sunset. '•••• Melancholy' When existence becomes unbearable, the mind scrabbles to find a coping mechanism. For some, it's to suppress any upsetting memories, or to retell the story to themselves in a more positive light. For others it's to drown their troubles in a drug of choice or by obsessive focus on controllable details. Still others hold things together by avoiding conflict at all costs. With this power, the Suicide King can force such a coping mechanism, and may even specify what that mechanism is. He may not, however, control the fine details. For example, he may push a target to develop false memories, but he may not define what those memories are. The target specifies the most upsetting thing in her life (always a breaking point she has experienced, and by default the most recent one) and applies that Condition to the breaking point in whatever way best fits. : Cost: 1 Vitae (if target is already affected by Depression) or 2 Vitae (if not) : Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Despond vs. target's Composure + Blood Potency : Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive : Dramatic Failure: The target is immune to the character's Despond until the next sunset. : Failure: The target suffers no effect. : Success: The character applies a persistent condition to the target, which resolves as usual or when the victim has taken a number of points of lethal damage equal to the successes rolled. It expires without resolution after a number of weeks equal to the successes rolled. This condition may be any of the following: Addicted, Amnesia, Broken, Delusional, False Memories, Fugue, Madness, or Obsession. : Exceptional Success: As above, except that the condition does not expire. '••••• Death's Sweet Lure' When even coping mechanisms fail, death is not just the only option but a longed-for option, a promise that the pain will end. It is this greatest of powers that make the Children of Judas so hated and feared by Kindred. : Cost: 2 Vitae and 1 Willpower : Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Despond - target's Composure + Blood Potency : Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive : Dramatic Failure: '''The target suffers no effect, but instinctively recognizes that the Child of Judas is a threat to her. Her Impression level falls immediately to Hostile. : '''Failure: The target suffers no effect. : Success: The character suppresses the target's survival instincts, tempting them with the attractiveness of their own demise. This manifests in three forms. First, the target is unable to spend Willpower for any purpose. Second, the target loses one point of Composure per success. These lost dots return naturally at a rate of one per night. Third, she gains the Obsessed Condition for a particular self-destructive course of action, which should be chosen from the following list according to what is appropriate to that character. Note that the user does not automatically know the specifics of the target's Obsession. ::Voodoo Death: Taking no action to assure continued survival, such as not eating or seeking shelter; ::Honor Suicide: Seeking punishment in expiation for some self-defined wrong; ::Protest Suicide: Standing up to authority in defense of what they believe is right; ::Medical Suicide: Seeking a painless end; ::Death By Cop: Seeking out situations where death is a likely outcome, such as brazen crime or extreme sports; ::Addiction: Pursuing a particular addictive substance without regard to self-preservation; ::Suicide Bombing: Dying to kill the enemy; ::Religious Suicide: Living to a moral code set so high that it cannot sustain her own life. :These effects last until the penalties to Composure are gone. If the target suicides while under the effects of Death's Sweet Lure, the user regains all spent Willpower and gains the Ecstatic Condition. :In addition to these immediate effects, anyone who dies while under the effects of Death's Sweet Lure can be Embraced at any time after death, even years later. They begin play as a Child of Judas Daeva regardless of the blood used to Embrace them, but begin their Requiem with all health levels but the last filled with aggravated damage, which must be healed as normal. :Exceptional Success: As above, except that the Suicide King chooses which form of nihilism his target becomes Obsessed with. 'Conditions' ''Despondent'' You must succeed at a reflexive Resolve + Composure roll to attempt any feat challenging enough to require a dice roll (including defending yourself from attack). If you succeed you may attempt the roll, but at a -3 penalty to the roll or to defense for the combat. You roll only once per combat situation; success means you may participate in the combat. : Resolution: Roll an exceptional success, reminding yourself of the things you are good at. Do this instead of applying a Condition for that exceptional success. 'Source' The original version of the Children of Judas can be found in Bloodlines: the Legendary, p38. This revision of Despond was written by Is_A_Becca. Category:Bloodlines Category:Unique Disciplines Category:Translations Category:Children of Judas